Although we don't shop much when we're on holidays, there's one item that we search for every time we travel. One of my favourite parts of any trip is choosing a Christmas tree ornament to bring home with us.

It's added new joy to the Christmas tradition of decorating our tree. As I unwrap each ornament and hand it over to be hung, we talk about where we bought it and our memories of that trip. Remember when we visited The Mouth of Truth in Rome? We'll never forget it, but it's fun to have the ornament to remember it by, too:

Sometimes we search and search, and end up with something different than we expected. When we couldn't find an ornament commemorating the entire Von Trapp clan in Salzburg, Austria, we had to settle for a rocking horse:

Like many of the best traditions, this one was handed down from my parents. When we visited Santa's Village in Jefferson, New Hampshire in the 1970s, my parents were clever enough to pick up two elf ornaments. Now Gwen and I each have one on our tree!

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We do the same thing! The kids love hearing about all of them . . . even the ones we got before they were born. And they still talk about the ones that have since gotten broken and are no longer with us. Best tradition ever!

Sounds like a common tradition. I love to see the variety of ornaments when we travel. They are small enough to bring back and something that hopefully we can keep for many years to come. Strange that this year we missed out in buying one while away...Perhaps another vacation is required before we put up the tree!

We always do that as well...such fun to remember all the places and times each year when we unpack them all. You are Canadian, you will love this: once we went to a Chinese exhibit at art museum in Montreal and there was a lady there painting eggs (looked like real eggs but they were not, unbreakable, etc.) and we bought one as it had a string to hang from a tree, so we figured Christmas tree ornament. The border police would not let us through customs with it as they thought it was a real egg and so we had to have them call the museum, the official museum director of the exhibit had to explain to the police what it was, etc., and we then got to bring it home. Took four and a half hours. I kid you not. We laugh at that one every time we put it on the tree. Mark always says, "This one, boys, is how we almost became Canadian as they almost wouldn't let us back into the States!" lol

Awwww, you're bringing back memories, Beth! The majority of our Christmas ornaments have stories too (we've got a lot of handmade ones sprinkled in that don't look so good, but have fond memories attached), and I love putting up the tree every year. Thanks for a hint of upcoming nostalgia (just 3 more months)!

What a lovely tradition! I love looking at my ornaments and remembering the beautiful people in my life who gifted them to me. I've lost all desire for a designer tree at this point. I'll happily keep my more unique one.

Mom always taught us to bring back small, valuable/treasured objects, but I never thought about ornaments as a theme - I love that! Right now we have an assortment of figurines, but how quickly those could become flotsam.

I love this tradition. I have a special place for each of my ornaments and I can't wait until my kids are old enough to care about the stories. Until then I will continue to talk the husbands ear off as we decorate.

My family and I have this same tradition. It has made our Christmas tree extta special each year as we unwrap them and remember our time together at the place we visited. Your ornaments are from much more exciting places than mine, though:)

Oh, I love this post, Beth! I have ALWAYS done this since I was a child. If I can't find a Christmas ornament when I travel then I turn something that I have bought there into one. It is truly so much fun unwrapping every ornament, like you said, and takes you back to the very moment that you got it.

This is a lovely tradition Beth and such an easy object to slip into your suitcase, I'm loving the change of the season to Fall and now a glimpse of Christmas from you, thanks for sharing the travel memories;-)